Dude, Where's My Muse?

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Blog Tour: Dyan Garris

How long have you been interested in cooking?

I've been interested in cooking for as long as I can remember. My most vivid memory of this interest was at age seven. I remember well because we had a babysitter one evening and I wanted to learn how to make an omelet. She told me I had to be eight years old to use the stove. I couldn't understand what difference a year would make and she had no good answer to that, so in the face of my persistence she let me do it. She hovered and fretted and clucked until I was done. It turned out OK and I think she was surprised. Also, my family's business was restaurants and I was just fascinated by it all and particularly how important the dining experience was to people. I learned everything I could learn about the business from a very young age. I'm Greek and it is true what the main character said in the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." Our mission is truly to feed everyone until we die.

What made you want to write a cookbook? A main reason I wrote it was because when my mother was dying she tried desperately to write all her recipes down and make them into a cookbook for her family. She mostly finished it, but I think it was not in the complete way that she really wanted to do it. What I wanted to with my own cookbook was to do it in a way that I know she would have done her own if she had had the time, energy, and opportunity to do so. I dedicated my book to her and that’s why. It’s a loving tribute to her.

Also, for years people have been asking me, “How do you make that?” So I just decided to make them a cookbook. It was really great fun and a good challenge. I don’t measure anything ever, even when I bake, so for purposes of the book, I knew I had to put some exact measurements in there. I made all the recipes and wrote it all down so people could have something to follow when making it themselves. Then I photographed all the food myself, which was a wonderfully creative and artistic process. Then I had a big party!

The other reason for writing this particular book is that it follows the theme of my main body of work, which is vibrational attunement of mind, body and spirit. In my work I tell people to “balance their triangle.” The book is part of learning to do that. It’s about opening the creative centers and listening to what your body wants to be fed and then feeding it, not mindlessly stuffing down some chemical laden product that passes for food these days. My work is about transformation. So with cooking, you can take the lower (raw ingredients) and transform it/them into the higher (the finished masterpiece) and feed yourself with that wholeness. Therefore you are feeding not only the body, but the mind and spirit as well.

How did you come up with the title?

“Voice of the Angels” is my main website where I have the music and meditation CD series for vibrational attunement. “Talk To Your Food” is just something I’ve always done. Whenever someone would ask me, “How do you make that?” I would answer, “You just talk to it.” I’ve been saying that for years because it’s what I really do. “Intuitive Cooking” is my way to describe what this is. If you follow along with the recipe and then you add in seasonings or other things that make it uniquely you, or you figure out a better way to do it, then you are intuitively cooking. Everyone probably does a bit of that innately anyway. Maybe they just never identified it as such. Plus, I added “Intuitively Speaking” paragraphs and twelve food related channeled messages, such as “The Sandwich,” “The Secret Recipe of Life, “ and “The Measure of Success.” I’m a spiritual teacher, so the messages actually teach something on a deeper level. I like to entertain…on other levels than just the surface level.

What is intuitive cooking?

Intuitive cooking is listening to your inner voice and hearing what your physical body wants to be fed. Intuitive cooking is communicating with your food in some way so that it can transform from raw ingredients to what truly nourishes you on every level. We all have the ability to open up to our unique creativity and create food that resonates with us in a healthy way. This doesn’t just mean lettuce, tofu, beans and rice. I wanted to teach people to take what their body says it wants and make it in a loving and delicious way. If it’s gluten free, fine. If it’s vegan, fine. But find a way to take the components of a gluten free diet or a vegan diet and transform them in a way that feeds your whole self. I’ve included a lot of very easy recipes and anyone on these types of diets can take my basic recipes and substitute where necessary and the result is the same. There isn’t anything here that will get ruined by a substitution.

How long did it take you to come up with all the recipes?Many of the recipes are ones that I’ve personally created over the years and tweaked. We used to do a lot of entertaining. I’ve never been one to write these things down because even if it’s the same dish I’m always going to make it a bit differently than I did two weeks ago, because I’m doing it intuitively as I go along. I like to create and I don’t like to be bored or boring. I find great joy in cooking. I find it relaxing and have a real passion for it. If I made a particularly tasty meal or dessert at one time, I jotted down the basics of it over the years. So I was really working from a lot of just “notes.” Some are family favorites. Some are Greek recipes handed down through the generations. Of course I intuitively added my own brand of creativity to them. Yes, with all that talking to my food over the years it took me a long time to come up with all the recipes.

Favorite recipe in the cookbook?

I am really fond of the fish recipes because I love fish and they’re really easy. I’m particularly fond of the tuna melt with cheese sauce, which sounds as if it might be mundane, but it isn’t. It takes about five minutes. It’s made with Ahi tuna and you put the cheese inside and it melts….Oh! It is really tasty! However, my very favorite thing to make is the Chicken Cinnamon. It’s also a really simple dish, has a special kind of Greek cheese in it called Mizitrah and smells heavenly if you like cinnamon. I find it really lifts the spirits.

How does your cookbook differ from others?

I think I’ve used a different blend and family of seasonings than people are ordinarily used to. It has channeled messages that actually teach and entertain and make one think about things on a deeper level. I put over sixty color photographs in there because most people are visual and like to see a finished product. That connects the mind with the body. So you see, it’s mind, body, spirit. It’s different.

What do you hope people get out the cookbook?

I hope that people have fun and enjoy themselves while creating with the vibration of love for themselves and their loved ones. That’s the goal.

For many years, Dyan Garris has been counseling clients in order to help them positively move forward in their lives. She is clairvoyant, clairsentient, and clairaudient. In addition, Dyan is also what is known as a voice recognition psychic and trance channel. This means that she can help her clients via phone, which is how she conducted her readings throughout her career.

Growing up in Illinois, Dyan became aware of her clairvoyance, and other gifts, at a very young age. She spent years learning how to appropriately use these gifts for good and to help others.

In 2005 she created a CD series of music and meditation for self-healing, relaxation, chakra balancing, and vibrational attunement. Her interest in music began as a child. A blind piano teacher taught her to “feel” music and “see” through different eyes and influenced her at a young age. Dyan continued her music studies with the violin. Through the violin, she learned how easily music vibrates throughout the body and, hence, all of the chakras. This was her first lesson of how the power of music and sound could be used for healing.

In the early 1990s, Dyan launched a jewelry business custom designing and manufacturing Austrian crystal earrings and healing bolos. Even in this work, she continued to use her special gifts for her client’s benefits. The healing bolos were custom made with stones such as crystal, onyx, hematite, jade and rose quartz. Each came with a channeled poem specifically for the person who commissioned the item. The bolos were designed to be worn over the heart chakra as a form of healing, as well as protection.

She eventually re-focused her life on home, family, spiritual counseling, and teaching meditation and energy classes. Music was incorporated in her classes as a method of sound healing as well as an effective method for opening and balancing the chakras.

In 2005, while sitting at the piano, she heard specific songs and titles coming from her psychic connections. Writing them down as fast as she could, the result was A Healing Journey – The Voice of the Angels CD. This is the first in the series designed for self-healing and vibrational attunement of the mind, body and spirit. There are six CDs in the series. A new release, titled, “Release,” will be available September 24th and is available at www.voiceoftheangels.com/store/12/6 or http://www.cdbaby.com/dyangarris6.

She is the author and developer of Voice of the Angels – A Healing Journey Spiritual Cards. These are a 30 card deck of Angel Cards based upon scenes from A Healing Journey-Guided Fantasy, which is the guided meditation found on the last track of A Healing Journey-The Voice of the Angels CD. Each card has its own channeled message in verse from the Angels.

Her new book, Voice of the Angels Cookbook – Talk to Your Food! – Intuitive Cooking is now available at the author’s website and http://www.amazon.com/. This is an adventure in opening the creative centers and communicating with your food so that it can transform from raw ingredients into what truly nourishes you on every level. The book includes twelve food-related channeled messages and several “Intuitively Speaking” paragraphs, which explain how to prepare the recipe using one’s own unique creativity.

New Age recording artist and creator of a music and meditation CD series for vibrational attunement, Dyan Garris is the author of the innovative cookbook, Voice of the Angels Cookbook – Talk To Your Food! – Intuitive Cooking. This is not just an ordinary cookbook. The artist calls it an adventure in opening one's creative centers.

“Intuitive cooking is listening to your inner voice and hearing what your body wants to be fed,” explains Garris. “Communicate with your food so that it can transform from raw ingredients into what nourishes you on every level. We all have the ability to create that which resonates for us in a complete, healthy way. It’s vibrational attunement of mind, body and spirit using food, rather than sound frequency, as in my CD series. This does not necessarily translate into lettuce and tofu,” she continues. “You learn to make what your body wants in a loving and delicious way. My goal is to teach people to feed not only the body, but the mind and spirit, as well. Turn ordinary food into something special. Talk to it!”

The cookbook is available at the author’s website: http://www.voiceoftheangels.com/, where Garris posts an inspirational Daily Channeled Message. The cookbook includes twelve channeled messages, such as, "The Secret Recipe of Life," “Ode to Popcorn," and numerous "Intuitively Speaking" paragraphs .

The book comes with a warning: This is real food! A variety of original recipes are included, from sinfully rich “Love Bars," to "Healing Soup," easy fish recipes, and skillet suppers, incorporating enticing blends of colors and flavors. The author's Greek heritage shines through in such recipes as "Easy Baklava Roll-Ups."

Garris learned to cook from her grandmother. “She didn’t measure anything! I would ask, ‘How much?’ She replied, ‘Some.’ ” This fueled Garris’ curiosity about food preparation. Her family’s restaurateur background allowed Garris to further develop her culinary skills. “I’ve been talking to my food for as long as I can remember!”

Hi everyone. It's so nice to be here. Lis, thank you for hosting me today. I appreciate it. I think so many people already cook intuitively and just haven't really labeled it as such. I'll be checking in periodically to answer any questions.

Hi Lia. It is a total pleasure to be here. Thank you so much. I find myself making a lot of fish lately. Sea bass with so many intuitive variations and I'm enjoying a lot of Scottish salmon as well. My spirit always wants to cook Greek though, and my favorite to cook in that department is a toss up, but Spinach Pie is coming to mind right now. It's fun and fast if you roll it up, and absolutely delicious. Just how delicious really depends upon the feta cheese, however. There are so many variations. It makes a difference.

Lia! LOL! I'm sorry, Lis. My finger slipped on the keyboard. I do know how to spell your name. Please forgive.One of the things I want to expound a little bit is the variation in feta cheese, because as I mentioned it really makes a difference. I am very fond of French feta for eating and for the spanakopita (spinach pie) This has a really creamy flavor rather than a strong pungent flavor.